Tag archives for coral reefs

VERY EXCITING NEWS! The Waitt Institute has expanded its Blue Halo Initiative to Montserrat and Curaçao, building on the recent success in Barbuda. The new partnerships with these two innovative island governments and communities will help envision, design, and implement sustainable ocean policies for their waters. With the launches of Blue Halo Montserrat and Blue…

Chances are you’ve come across some ocean news lately. And it may even have been positive! Yes, the ocean is still in serious trouble due to overfishing, pollution, climate change, and habitat destruction, but there are more and more success stories to point to, and point I shall. #1. Big year for big marine reserves. Kiribati,…

Mark Spalding, senior marine scientist, The Nature Conservancy I’m at the World Parks Congress, a-once-a-decade global meeting of scientists, protected area managers and other experts to focus on the state and future of national parks and nature reserves. There’s so much to talk about here—new science and technologies to monitor parks, ways to engage local…

The world’s oceans are littered with abandoned man-made objects and structures that are considered “repurposed” materials and dubbed artificial reefs. Old tires, toilets, navy ships, oil platforms, retired subway cars, and airplanes, have all either intentionally or unintentionally, been converted into artificial reefs due to the indomitable nature of marine life. Which of these reefs…

On August 12th, Barbuda Council signed into law a sweeping set of new ocean management regulations that zone their coastal waters, strengthen fisheries management, and establish a network of marine sanctuaries. This comes after seventeen months of extensive community consultation and scientific research supported by the Waitt Institute. With these new policies, the small island…

By Carl Safina and Elizabeth Brown The people of Palau, a small island nation in the northwestern Pacific, have long realized that the health and prosperity of their nation depends on the ocean. Because of this realization, Palauans have always worked to protect their ocean resources. That’s why Palau has drawn the world’s top scientists…

Coral reefs are very complex ecosystems, but luckily managing them sustainably is not. Simply don’t catch fish faster than they reproduce, don’t damage the corals or pollute the water, reduce atmospheric CO2, and protect some areas as marine reserves. That’s easier said than done, and it’s not news. What is new is that an…

Rob Brumbaugh, senior marine scientist, The Nature Conservancy June 1st marks the opening of the Atlantic hurricane season and as a resident of the Florida Keys I know to take every storm seriously and prepare accordingly. Recently, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicted a “near-normal or below-normal 2014 Atlantic hurricane season,” and while…

It’s not that people don’t care about the environment; it’s that more pressing needs like feeding their families and paying their bills trump environmental concerns. As a marine biologist, I worry about how poverty can hinder the sustainability of fishing, and therefore endanger the future of fishing communities. The “teach a man to fish” adage can only hold…

By Vera Agostini, Senior Marine Scientist, The Nature Conservancy Major hurricanes like Sandy (New Jersey in 2012) and Ivan (Eastern Caribbean in 2004) and Typhoon Haiyan (the Philippines 2013) make global headlines as they hit coastal communities, appropriately drawing attention to the human, financial, and community losses. While some smaller communities may not make global…

By Rob Brumbaugh, Integrated Ocean Management Lead, The Nature Conservancy I’ve just returned from Bali, Indonesia, where I spent three weeks working with The Nature Conservancy’s Indonesia marine program, and attending an international conference of scientists and economists exploring ways to make the human benefits of nature more apparent to policy makers and stakeholders everywhere. …

As is easy to do, I have fallen in love with Barbuda. It’s magical. The community, the beaches, the children, the tranquility, the seafood, the ingenuity. But from photographs and stories, it’s clear that when you literally dive beneath the surface, Barbuda is not as magnificent underwater as it once was, or as it could…

Co-authored with Will McClintock Ocean zoning is a simple concept. As on land, where there are industrial, commercial, residential, agricultural, and conservation zones, you can’t do everything in the same place at the same time in the ocean. Zoning ensures that each key use of the ocean is allocated appropriate space, and these different uses…

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